From sacred mothers to polluted streams: India’s dying rivers and the urgent call for renewal

By Raj Kumar Sinha* 

In Indian culture, rivers are not only life-giving but also sacred, worshipped as mothers who nourish and sustain humanity. Without rivers, the very idea of human civilization would have been impossible. Our sages understood that water and forests are the foundation of life. They reminded us that “trees bring rain, rain produces grain, and grain sustains life.” The Atharva Veda emphasized the need for pure water bodies near human settlements, noting that clean water ensures health, longevity, and well-being. This reverence for rivers shaped traditions that treated them as divine. Yet, today, driven by greed and profit, we have pushed our rivers into crisis.

India, known as the land of rivers, has over 4,000 small and large rivers. Yet, according to the Pollution Control Board, out of 521 monitored rivers, only 198 remain clean, mostly smaller ones. Unplanned urbanization, industrialization, and reckless development have gravely endangered them, even wiping out several tributaries. Climate change has further shrunk their sources, while market forces exploit them as commodities.

The Centre for Science and Environment’s State of Environment Report 2023 revealed that 279 rivers across 30 states are polluted—nearly half of all rivers. Maharashtra tops the list with 55 polluted rivers, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Manipur, and West Bengal. Industrial effluents, unchecked waste, and rapid growth are poisoning rivers, decimating fish populations, and destabilizing aquatic ecosystems. Scientists consider fish as bioindicators of healthy water. If rivers can no longer sustain them, it signals ecological collapse.

Pollution also undermines agriculture. Farmers already depend heavily on chemical fertilizers, and when polluted river water irrigates fields, it contaminates food at its very source. Meanwhile, reckless sand mining devastates riparian zones, as seen in the Narmada basin, where once-expansive riverbanks have shrunk drastically. This demands stricter regulation, treating sand not as a minor but a major mineral requiring environmental clearance.

Large dams further complicate river health. In the Narmada valley alone, 30 major dams have been proposed, many already built. Their cumulative impact on the river must be assessed before any new projects move forward. Globally, dam removal has gained momentum. Europe and North America are dismantling obsolete or harmful dams to restore river ecosystems. The European Parliament’s Nature Restoration Law requires 25,000 km of rivers to be free-flowing by 2030. New Zealand has gone further by granting the Whanganui River legal personhood. India too has seen progress—the Uttarakhand High Court recognized the Ganga and Yamuna as “living entities” with rights akin to human beings.

The way forward for India requires more than token schemes. Regulatory bodies must move beyond administrative management to ecological governance that integrates climate science and biodiversity. Mining, deforestation, and construction that disrupt catchments must be banned. Every project impacting rivers and valleys should undergo rigorous and impartial environmental and social assessments. Comprehensive sewage treatment plants must be built across river basins, while industrial effluents, pesticides, and chemical residues must be strictly controlled.

The National Green Tribunal has issued important directives for river conservation, targeting pollution control, illegal mining, and waste management. Initiatives like Namami Gange can succeed only if governments, industries, local communities, and citizens recognize rivers not as exploitable resources but as living lifelines.

On this World Rivers Day, the call is clear: let rivers flow clean and free—not as tools of profit, but as the very veins of our civilization.

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*Bargi Dam Displaced and Affected Union